5 Easy ways to avoid scams online, remember A.SCAM

Anyone who has been or knows someone who has been scammed, put up your hand. Woh, so many hands! What are the ways to avoid scams online? 5 easy ways, just remember A.SCAM.

Hands up, everyone!

The 5 ways to avoid online scams are represented by the acronym A.SCAM, something easy to remember. 2 days ago I read a review on Rookie Profit System and was instantly angry.

You see, some time ago I was scammed out of $120! I tried free resumes download from a company for a month, and subsequently, I was billed $40 per month! It was not upfront in declaring that after the free trial period I would be billed automatically every month until I cancel. Yes, I forgot to read the fine print. Technically this may not be a scam, but to me, the victim, this is an unethical scam. And yes, I should always check my credit card statements.

Oh ya, Rookie Profit System. Last year I was looking for an online business course as a new career when I retire in a few years. Then I saw an invitation for 3 hours free seminar on just such a course. Only when I arrived I saw it was a MOBE seminar. During the so-called seminar, I googled MOBE and it stinks! So I walked out. Guess what? Rookie Profit System = MOBE = Not recommended. (More on this later)

‘S’ as in SEARCH for the devil in the details

Er, excuse me, what does the ‘.’ dot in A.SCAM stands for? Well…nothing. I Just put it in there to make the word more fancy and memorable!

The devil in the details is an idiom that refers to a catch or mysterious element hidden in the details. (Check out these 2 excellent reviews on this point: Big Profit System and The Rookie Profit System)

Search for the devil in the details

Search for the devil in the details also means to read the fine print. My personal experience stated earlier proved this point. If only I have read the fine print which was actually hidden somewhere in the abyss of the company terms and conditions, I would not have been scammed. If in doubt, do without. Very cliche, but it works.

A story to drill at this point:

A guy dies and is sent to hell. The devil meets him, shows him doors to three rooms, and says he must choose one to spend eternity in.

In the first room, people are standing in dirt up to their necks. The guy says, ‘No, let me see the next room.’

In the second room, people are standing in dirt up to their noses. Guy says no again.

Finally, the devil opens the third room. People are standing with dirt up to their knees, drinking coffee and eating pastries. The guy says, ‘I pick this room.’ The devil says Ok and starts to leave, and the guy wades in and starts pouring some coffee.

On the way out the devil yells, ‘OK, coffee break’s over. Everyone back on your heads!

‘C’ for CHARACTER

Who is the owner or founder? What is his Character? You and I know that the fish stinks from the top. The owner, unknown? Does the owner hide behind an acronym? Dig deeper. Check more reviews. Look for the rating. The rating by a bunch of people will tell the true character of the company as well. Imagine the review below:

Keep your wallet shut tight and run for the hills.

‘A’ for Allure

Allure as a verb means lure, entice or tempt. Scammers appeal to our emotion. One of the strongest is greed. You see these advertisements often:

# A housewife discovers the secret to make $365 a week!

# A school drop-out, just made a $300,000 trading in cryptocurrency

# A retired school teacher is making $5,000 a month with this simple secret

You should not click on those links!

But we are human. Greedy. We want to believe despite knowing what Abraham Lincoln said. Even after our search digs up tons of worms, we still want to believe the slimy character promising the sky. The pull is too strong. May be this time I’ll be lucky.

Well then, may be this will help. Remember the dead monkey.

‘M’, what else could it be, but MONKEY!

When I first heard this joke, I thought it was such a stupid joke. But when I consider it in the context of our discussion here, it makes a powerful story as a way to avoid scams online.

Question: Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?

Answer: Because it was dead.

Question: Why did the second monkey fall out of the tree?

Answer: Because monkey see, monkey do.

But what about the great testimonials of all those people who say this product or program has helped them earn $3,000 a week! Could they be fake testimonials? Could they be paid testimonials? Certainly possible. Hence, go back to review the points in Abraham Lincoln, Search and Character.

But what about the testimonial of your friends? They’re on it and are singing praises about it. Well, they could be wrong, or they could be in a pyramid scheme without knowing it or knowing it and are now trying to recoup their investment. Or simply they are aping some other monkeys. (Check out the compelling review about 4 Percent to illustrate this point)

Hence, even with the best recommendation of your good friend, always do your own diligence; always go back to review the points in Abraham Lincoln, Search and Character. Lesson: monkey sees, monkey remembers Abraham Lincoln. Monkey searches for the devil and his character. Then only the monkey decides.

Remember A.SCAM and you won’t be scammed

A.SCAM

Imprint the picture above in your mind. Recall it every time you have to decide whether a product or service is a scam. Did we not promised 5 EASY ways to avoid scams online? Just remember A.SCAM.

So glad you enjoyed the article! Wow, ‘detest’, strong word! But necessary. These scammers have no feeling or conscience. They do not care that they’ve destroyed lives. To them, the victims are just faceless mass of people.

And, as you pointed out, there are legitimate ways to earn income online. Wealthy Affiliate is one. I signed up with Wealthy Affiliate after much investigation. The thing that moved me to sign up was the 7 days free trail WITHOUT having to submit my credit card number!

Some scammers bait you to sign up with something free, but you’ve to submit your credit card number. Then they’ll continue to charge you every month even though you’ve cancelled the service before the trail ends.

I wish I had read this a few months ago!! Would have save me a chunk of change and a lot of aggravation and disappointment. You put a comical tone to it, but it’s unfortunately very necessary information. Thanks for spreading the word and hopefully saving some people some grief!

Hi Janet, nice you enjoyed the little article. Yeah, everyday we read of people being scammed. So if one person can be alerted to remember what Abraham Lincoln said, that is one person less being scammed. Have an awesome day!

Your A.SCAM is an ingenious tip for us to use in detecting scams. I too have been scammed, my partner was recently too so there is so much for us to look out for, it is hard to be wary all of the time. That is why A.SCAM is great, a good little trigger for us.

I must say I have never seen Monkey See Monkey Do before, and it is true we tend to follow the leader without thinking a lot of the time. So the monkey is a great tip to remind us to think.

Hi Steve, happy that the acronym A.SCAM can be a “good little trigger” to be cautious when looking at online offers. Just today I read in my loacal paper someone was scammed of $100,000! Though he was not online, he received a message through WhatsApp from the Central Bank that his bank account has been hacked. He was told to transfer his money to a given account for safe-keeping. He did that and all his money was gone!

Hi Simon, thanks! Mighty glad you like the article! You’re very sharp. I’m happy you can see through the humor the serious issue of rampant scams happening. Just today I read in our local paper, an accountant was scammed out of $50,000 through Phishing. Stay alert!

Hey Song!
What an interesting way to detect scams. Wish I had known that technique when I got scammed a few times.

I always do research thoroughly, but even when I do research there are times I misread or read a lot of promoters views on something which in fact is bad after all. It is then the trick to find out whether something is realistic, like your Lincoln method.

Hi Steven, it’s always annoying to get scammed. Yes, even in reviews you’ll get those who are for and against a certain product. So we need to really search for the devil in the details. I think Lincoln is doing a good job in warning us to be extremely careful while online. Thanks for visiting!

I love the acronym and they way you broke it down. My favorite is Abraham Lincoln. There are so many scams out there so we have to be very careful and do our due diligence before we so quickly start joining opportunities of any kind online. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Nate, glad you like the acronym. Hopefully it’s easy to remember. Ha ha, my favorite too is Abraham Lincoln! Just today I read someone’s review about an easy income without work system. He pointed out the so-called testimonials, word for word, same pictures of people, same names, were used for another money-making scheme. Obviously fake testimonials. Well, always listen to Abraham Lincoln!

I have never heard of this acronym until I stumbled upon your article. A lot of what you are talking about makes sense. It’s so sad that people are easily targeted online and scammed every day just because they do not follow some of the techniques you talk about here. I for one can relate. I signed up for this $500 course just to realize it was a waste of my money. Hard work comes through putting in time and effort to see results. Thanks for sharing this!

Hi Josephine, you are absolutely right, success comes from hard work! Sorry to hear you wasted $500. Ha, ha, I actually created the acronym for myself, as a reminder on the steps to take so as to avoid scams online. Just the other day I read about a friend’s recommendation on an online business that can make for me lots of money. So I remember what Abraham Lincoln said, I searched for the devil in the details, check out the character of the founder…interesting character…only the top 2% will actually make money, it’s a MLM bordering on pyramid scheme… Nah, not interested.

Wonderful you find the article helpful! Ah, Jerry, you are observant. Yes, this website is new. Thanks for the encouragement to keep building the site and in the process I hope my writing will benefit all visitors. Have a nice day!

Thanks for sharing your tips! It is so easy now a days to get scammed. I see people in my line of work getting scammed somewhat frequently and it is frustrating to see. They really believe they are getting money for nothing and hate hearing the truth. Thanks for trying to help other not get hit by scammers!

Yes, Ben some people just want to believe in easy money. But sometimes there are those who genuinely thought they are putting their money in legitimate investments. However, their checking is superficial and they did not cross check with other reviews. Searching for the devil in the details will certainly help them to avoid being scammed. Thanks for coming by!

The one thing I thought of when you mentioned those allure ads that say someone made $300,000 in a week in cryptocurency is if they really did and it is so great, why would you tell everyone else about it? I usually think that is a red flag if they have to tell you about it. I know if I made that type of money, I would be keeping my mouth shut so I could have more to myself. I know that sounds greedy but I think most people would do that.

Hi Jessie, you made an interesting and powerful observation. Indeed, if I know how to make $300,000 easily in just one week, I will keep this as my own trade secret! Well, as people say, common sense is not so common.

Great post! Yes, everyone who has wanted to find an opportunity online has been scammed in some way. It’s so frustrating to think how many scammers are out there making a lot of money off of innocent people.

There should be more posts like yours to make people aware of the scams and to question every opportunity before signing up. I really like you A.SCAM approach to recognizing a scam. It’s simple to remember and may just save me and others from a scam one day.

Hello Weston, I totally agree with you, these scammers made a lot of money from innocent people. That’s why they are still at it. These scammer are really smart people and we wonder why they do not use their talent to earn legitimate income. I guess it’s easier to cheat.

I remember the fake job offer scam. I remember a friend who were so excited to get an email informing him that he had been offered a very well paying job on a cruise ship. BUT he had to pay a small processing fee first! I told him this could be a scam. And it was. Wow, think of how much money the scammer made in processing fees from thousands of applicants!

Hi Monica, thanks for visiting! Glad to know A.SCAM can help in remembering the steps to take to avoid being scam online. Monkey see monkey do actually may not be all that bad if the monkey has verified (hopefully using A.SCAM) what he sees as a genuine opportunity.

This is a great post to help recognize us scams, which, unfortunately, are all over the internet. You’ve raised very interesting points, from being skeptical about too good to be true offers to look into the details and the owner of the product in question. I know when I fist started researching about making money online, these types of scams can be so infuriating.

Your drawings are funny and the devil story is pretty good. I like how you mention reading the fine print. I recently discovered that people are being scammed using Venmo because they partake in financial transactions with strangers from Craigslist (for sporting events, concert tickets, etc.) even though Venmo states that you should only exchange $ with personal friends. So there’s one you can add to the list!

Hi Lizel, thanks for dropping by! Glad you like the drawings. Hopefully, the article will remind readers to always search for the devil in the details. Also thanks for the info on Venmo. Right, will check out Venmo. I’ll be doing a follow up article on the various scams we need to look out for. Have an awesome day!

Hey there! I’m a college student and I’m looking for a part time job online. I’m scared to try online business because I might get scammed. Luckliy I found your article that talks about 5 easy ways to avoid scams online. This is a great way for me to start to find the perfect online job that I could try. Thank you for sharing this information.

I love it! Song, this post is very entertaining and easy to read, and at the same time it cements the truths about scams into the mind of your readers. This post points out that we must really watch our greed level. I like the story about the monkey; I think now that I will always remember the characteristics of A.Scam. Thanks.

Thanks for the article and the interest in people like me that just opened the wrong link and assumed every thing was true.

A.scam will help. I like the stink starts from the top. The part that bothers me is using profiles of people that we assume are real. I put hope in people and this taints that trust we need to have from each other.

Your efforts are greatly appreciated in restoring how to navigate this situation.

hi Robert, I can sense your anger talking about scammers. The biggest scam I read ( I’m sure there are bigger ones out there) is that of a 70 year-old widow who was cheated to the tune of £40,000! That was all her savings and now she’s struggling to survive. (The biggest financial scam you’ve never heard of) We just feel heartbroken when we hear story like this!